Texas Observer: “Nearly 14 years after her death, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson’s legacy, to most who know anything about her at all, has been boiled down to wildflowers alongside Texas highways. In Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, Julia Sweig makes the convincing case that Johnson’s role in history is far more complex, interesting, and significant, even central to many of the events of the 1960s that continue to shape our culture and politics….
Hiding in Plain Sight brings Lady Bird out of Lyndon Johnson’s shadow, moving him into the background as much as possible, despite the close union, joint aspirations, and political partnership that often led her to refer to “our presidency.” With only occasional exceptions to provide historical context, Sweig depicts LBJ from Lady Bird’s point of view, describing his mentality and decisions, his victories and falterings, and fateful turning points, in terms of Lady Bird’s perceptions of them and participation in them. Sweig mentions his frequent infidelities, for instance, merely in passing, a reflection of Lady Bird’s own near indifference toward them. He does not appear at all in many of the book’s chapters.
The book is exceptionally well executed: impressive in its thoroughness while disciplined in its focus, clearly structured and written, and most important, intimately insightful.
The portrait that results is of a woman with an extraordinary mind, remarkable expressiveness, understated charisma, and honed interpersonal skills—with or without Lyndon. A graduate of the University of Texas with degrees in both history and journalism, Lady Bird had the enviable ability to size up almost everyone she met, then use what she gleaned to strategically marshal relationships to the Johnsons’ benefit (skills she often used to manage her mercurial husband). She also was successful in business. Lady Bird played a central role in transforming Austin’s KTBC, which she and Lyndon bought with her family’s money in 1943, from a near-bankrupt radio station into the cornerstone of a multimillion-dollar fortune.”